Third Avenue building sells for $2.3 million

Jan. 14, 2014

Written by

The Tennessean

A Nashville emergency physician has purchased a building off downtown’s Third Avenue North with five condo-style apartment units for $2.3 million.

Dr. Jeff Greenlee plans to use the largest of the units — with 4,400 square feet of space — as his personal residence after selling his Brentwood home. He also plans to continue leasing the remaining four units out as rental apartments.

“This is my first venture into the city and into the rental business,” said the empty nester, who purchased the 11,000-square-foot building at 214 Third Ave. N. from Randy Higgs, a real estate developer. “I’m excited as can be.”

Higgs, also the owner of Lightning Lube car repair shops in Columbia, Tenn., had paid $600,000 for the downtown building, which once housed law offices, and spent more money to renovate it into residential units in 2009. That work included adding a fourth floor that, along with the third floor, makes up the 4,400-square-foot unit that Higgs has occupied and that Greenlee will now call home.

In 2010, that large unit — with four bedrooms, five and a half baths, a Jacuzzi and a large roof deck that overlooks the Cumberland River and LP Field — was featured on “MTV Cribs” after Higgs’ daughter entered it into a competition. In 2009, the city recognized Higgs for the best adaptive reuse of a building.

The remaining four rental units are leased — $1,500 to $1,600 for the one-bedroom units, and $2,000 to $2,100 for the ones with two bedrooms.

Separately, Higgs said he’s in the early stages of planning to add at least another floor to the five-story building at 209 Third Ave. N. that he purchased about six years ago.

Events on Third, an events center run by his son, Dawson, occupies the first two floors and will be expanded with a 5,400-square-foot ballroom on the third. Higgs is exploring converting the vacant fourth and fifth floors to condos and possibly adding a 5,400-square-foot roof deck to be used for private Events on Third events.

Getahn Ward covers growth and development. He can be reached at 615-726-5968 or at gward@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter: @Getahn.